The trials and tribulations of a big change!

Green beer?

Mani and I have lots of things in common, but one important thing we have in common is a love of food – and the fact that he loves food makes it easier for me to love food. I don’t have to be the kind of girlfriend who pretends to be happy with a garden salad when what she really wants is a 300g steak – rare, thanks. (And no, I have not put on any weight since I got here, just in case you’re shaking your head and wagging your finger in my face).

Let me first set the record straight. With the knowledge of our combined love of food, we realised that we could be heading for disaster – we could end up being Feeders; so we decided that once I landed in Germany, we’d start enjoying a healthy diet (which is good, considering I once started to study Clinical Nutrition part time). However, we did also decide that the change in diet wouldn’t mean we’d never again enjoy food – now and then we still indulge ourselves and go out to restaurants.

In fact, a few nights ago, he wanted to take me out on a date* to a restaurant called Cape Town. When we got there though, some people had hired it out for a private function, so we headed off to an Indonesian place – but on the way we saw what looked like an awesome Argentinean Steakhouse – so we hopped off the tram and indulged in some Argentinean cuisine at Colonia Haus.

First up were the drinks – both of us had beer (obviously) but mine was rather interesting. I cannot remember what it was called, but it was green and it was deeeeelicious! It didn’t take like beer at all – rather, it tasted like some sort of apple cider.

My Green Beer - don't you just love the glass?!

Mani and his 'man beer'

And then it was time to choose our meal for the evening – after much deliberation, we both decided on Kangaroo steaks. The decision to eat Kangaroo was mainly due to the fact that neither of us had had it before – and we were both glad we’d decided on it 🙂

Kangaroo steak

Note: there are actually two differently prepared types of potato on my plate – Mani and I just hate ‘missing out’ on what the other person is eating…so we generally halve everything…though his idea of halving his food is not really as accurate as mine…..

Right, anyway. Enough of that. Last night we went to a rather special place called the Blue Nile restaurant – an absolutely awesome Ethiopian restaurant. The decor was really nice – warm and inviting – and the food was superb. What I like most though was how ‘different’ the whole dining experience was. The tables are not normal tables, you eat with your hands and you drink beer out of a dried kalabash…here’s the evidence:

Beer in a calabash

And here’s the main course – I’m not sure exactly what it was called – but it’s mince, spinach, sour cream and cheese – the pancake looking things aren’t pancakes in the normal sense of the word – they’re made with sour dough, so they have an unusual (but yummy) taste. Basically, you break off pieces of the dough/pancake and then use it to pick up some mince…yip – quite an experience:

Das essen - The food

As for the beer in the calabashes – I think there’s muti in then, because by the end of the evening, Mani and I were acting very strange…

And that’s about it for now – I have plenty more photos, but I never find the time to post them, blegh! 😦 🙂

*Date: Yes, well…the way Mani interprets this word is slightly different to conventional interpretations. When being asked out on a date, this is what I get: